DAY TWO

Well frak me gently with a chainsaw.

What on earth was that? Can this be the same Torchwood that failed to make children + hospital scary; can it be the show whose chief villain blew up a city because his brother accidentally let go his hand. Can it be Torchwood at all, and still remain the most exciting television event of the year.

What on earth was that?

Dear reader, I apologise for my cynicism. I happily trade in the pleasure of a week's joyful bitching for a far superior pleasure - that of excitement, pure excitement and delight. I haven't felt this way since Utopia.

There's something dangerous about the one-a-day formula. Something that takes over your brain. I remember the first time I watched Inferno. Long since resigned that, however much I love his stories, Pertwee really cannot be enjoyed in one go, I took it slow. One a day, strictly, for one of the most brilliant weeks. I attribute my high praises partly to the excitement of daily immersion. They don't need cliffhangers or publicity - it's all in the episode. Take the moment the 456 declared WE ARE COMING TOMORROW. For the first time, one of those stop sequences sent a shiver up my spine, because tomorrow means tomorrow.

Torchwood has never lived up to its mission statement, until now. Doctor Who. For adults. This is Sontaran Strategm but gloriously real. This story could have been told in 45 minutes - the fact it isn't already puts it a cut above anything purporting to do invasion-Earth. They have the luxury of doing it properly, and as yet there hasn't been a single instant I'd cut as filler. This week, we had Jack's gloriously icky resurrection done in technicolour. After decades of alien life only being interested in the Hampshire countryside, people are actually asking: why do they speak English, and why have they only contacted Britain. It's a fair question and I'm looking forward to the answer - todays bet is that the 456 were fobbed off by 70s-80s UNIT somehow. It's still possible for them to pull a Doctor Who villain out of the bag for tomorrow, though I don't think they will. The final scene beside the gas chamber, preparing for the arrival, recalled Dying Days - and that's hardly low praise. For the first time, we are going to see meaningful first contact done intelligently. I particularly liked the suggestion that the gas was for "farting", a neat continuity reference to exactly the place Children of Earth rejects.

And yet it is still Torchwood. It's merely been...upgraded. It is still, at times, brilliantly daft - check out Ianto's forklift-rescue, or the focus on the fluppy wheels of the bullet-peppered car, or Rani-candidate's instruction to chain the corpse to the wall. Yet not, as usual, at the expense of thinking. I loved Gwen and Rhys escaping Wales by delivery van. A great use of established mythology. They also remembered they hadn't eaten - I love Rhys' request of Lois for cash. And it's still emotional and character driven. This is where Torchwood, indeed much modern telly, has always let me down - for character to work, it has to interact with plot. If one is slave to the other, things fall apart. I loved Gwen and Rhys' quick kiss on the run, and her admission made me cry for what I suspect will not be the last time this week. Ianto's double-edged "he pushed me too hard. He always did.", which instantly fills in an entire background for the family. Just as his brother-in-law, ranting at the bug about the government, tells us so much about him. Stereotyping perhaps, but I adored the hoodie attack, and I adored the moment Ianto goes back to get a lead on the stolen Torchwood van. I hope they keep the fact Rupesh was a baddie secret - so far, it's been a beautiful move.

Lois irritated me slightly less this week - sorry - part. She's still showing all the acting abilities of a Doctor Who companion. Watch her looking non-suspicious. "I'm a PA. It's what I do." recalled the best temp in Chiswick, and I don't know what Gwen is doing, offering her an insanely dangerous job as a reward, and one for which she cannot be qualified for. Odds that she'll live out the week? Low. Playing Morgus to her Krau-Timmon, Frobisher remains awesome, awesome, awesome. Comeuppance beckons before Friday, and I'm sure it will be marvellous. It's always nice to see PC Andy, but I hope he's OK. No doubt we'll find out within 48 hours or so.
We liked the sweet soldier at the military base, and the scene with the Ambulence crew pulling her away - a scene we've seen so many times - gloriously subverted. "Who are you working for?" "The NHS?" The children remain a real highlight, realistically non-plussed by the whole thing. "We. Want. A. Pony."

Finally, the whole thing has a coherent beauty the show has always lacked. With no mythos to guide it, as per Who, it's always wildly flailed in tone and content, with characters and science equally inconsistant. The direction is just marvellous, particularly that opening sequence with the music and sound fading in and out on Gwen, and the subdued ending with that strangely threatening breath. A few days ago, I asked if defection to Big Finish was the way to do Torchwood justice. I retract that statement: this the way to do Torchwood.

Oh, and they destroyed the Hub. They destroyed the Hub. No more Hub. The BBC's main set just got blown up, along with the Whoniverse's most iconic monument. Hub gone. And it's only the second episode. Maybe something nasty is gonna happen to the team before the end of the week, maybe they're not going to actually need that thing for another season because there won't be another season. If so, then this is the ultimate swansong - a thing of beauty. How could they top it? But it'd still be a shame because, suddenly, I care. It's no longer a thing I am enduring because the Doctor Who has gone away.

For a second time this week I ask: can they keep up the momentum? Maybe not, but right now the moon is full, and I'm listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack, and for the first time in my life, I bloody love Torchwood.